Sapa and Trekking

Our next journey was to the far north of Vietnam, almost to the Chinese border, to an area called the highlands which is home to many of Vietnam's minority peoples. I almost didn't get to go since all the sleeper trains to Lao Cai were booked for that evening. Then, at the last minute, a seat opened up and I was able to go. I got to the train station on the back of a Moto, which is quite an experience when you are wearing a large backpack. The train station was chaos as three fully booked overnight trains were leaving and my train was quite late. I got out on to the tracks, only to discover that the train only had 10 cars and I was booked on car #11!! Luckily there were many other people in this predicament and they told me cars 10 and 11 had just been added and would be arriving separately!! I met a couple French people and had a nice conversation with them in French while we were waiting. Since I am travelling with people who speak another language, it has made me try to think how to say things in French again.

Our sleeper car was a bit ghetto, but considering it was the soft sleeper with only 4 people in the cabin, we were actually travelling in luxury. I felt bad for the people making the overnight journey on hard benches with no cushions. I actually did manage to sleep and arrived at Lao Cai somewhat rested. We got picked up and made the hour-long journey to Sapa over twisting, winding roads. The scenery is indescribably spectacular, all dramatic green covered hills covered with terraced rice paddies, interspersed with small villages and grazing water buffalo. The villages are an animal lover's delight, and it is the season for babies. During my visit, I saw calves, kids, chicks, ducklings, piglets, puppies, kittens, and lots of adult animals. I think the piglets win, however.

We started our trek with our guide, Pet, who is from the Red Dzou people. She is the second youngest of 13 children, and all her 11 older siblings are married. Several of their children (her nieces and nephews) are older than she is. Her parents were angry at her for a long time for refusing an arranged marriage at 16 with a man she had never even met. They also tried to set her up with two other men, who she also refused. Pet is 19 and learned English from tourists, enabling her to be a guide. She is paying for her youngest sister to go to high school, which is not free in Vietnam. Her sister is the first person in Pet's family to attend high school, although Pet would like to someday. She was wearing the most amazing outfit, which she embroidered herself. I wound up buying my own outfit from Pet's mom, who we met on our return to Sapa. I may only wear it for Halloween, or hang it on the wall, but it is truly spectacular. There goes another million dong!! At least I am doing my best to support the local economy.

Our trek was just beautiful, through the rice fields and up and down over the hills. The footing was quite difficult, although not for Pet, who just bounced over the path as though she was on a paved road. All the women carry big umbrellas, for protection from the sun, the rain, and as a walking stick if needed. Soon after we started our trek, we were joined by a huge contingent of women and girls from the Black Hmong, who followed us for several miles before turning back. They have a standard repertoire of English questions, and reply with standard answers. When you tell them your name, they will say "Oh, very pretty". And when you tell you how old you are, no matter if you are 6 or 60, the standard response is "oh, very young". They were a lot of fun, although they are all selling handicrafts (many of them from other tribes) and their sales tactics can be a bit pushy. However, I really felt I had to buy something from these women who had walked all this way with us.

I think the highlight of the walk for me was standing on a water buffalo (yes, I have a picture). Pet did it first and assured me that the buffalo don't mind (he then stood up, so I think he did mind). But then I scratched his head and I think all was forgiven. We made very slow progress, in part because Andi was so popular with the children and had to stop and buy something from almost everyone she met. We wound up getting matching Vietnamese style shirts (mine is purple with a green border) at the place we stopped for tea. It's a cool shirt, but I am not coordinated enough to button it myself :) I managed to have a dog follow me all the way from the bridge to the place we stopped for lunch, where I fed him cheese and hard boiled eggs. He was a little mangy, but very friendly.

We were joined on this trek by 2 Aussies from Melbourne, Shem and Claire. Claire is a pediatric nurse and is going to be volunteering at an orphanage in Hoi An for 4 weeks. Shem is a water engineer, whatever that means :) Once again I am the oldest, although at least I am only 2 years older than Sven. We were all very tired by the time we finally arrived in our homestay village. The house itself is really nice, and we slept upstairs on mattresses covered by mosquito nets. There was a beautiful concrete patio looking out over the terraced rice fields and the village. Somehow we managed to start playing a drinking game (something I have not done since college) and consumed 39 beers between us!! We laughed a lot, which Pet thought was very funny.

to be continued...